The Esperantos

The Esperantos have been plenty busy gigging heavily around Mid-Michigan and befriending Boston’s premier garage band, The Charms featuring Ellie Vee. The Charm’s manager Steev Ricardo was so enamored by the talents of The Esperantos he signed them to his label Red Car Records and produced their eponymous titled CD. This time around the block (this is their sophomore effort), the Esperantos and the Svengali-like Ricardo have produced an incredible garage sound, 3 minute teenage anthems with frantic beats, squealin’ guitar (hit that E-string, brother) and a pimply preoccupation with your best girl –and maybe just a little on the side Each chorus is an instant sing-a-long punctuated with grunts, groans, yipes and hollers, falsetto screams, and any number of oh-yeah’s. And the verses contain a thematic appreciation for all forms of hangin’ out, hookin’ up, dumping and getting dumped, getting’ some and not getting any at all…ahh the angst. This CD puts the F back into fun and that’s what Esperantos music is all about F-U-N. Let’s take a listen to this non-stop rock fest…

Escort a great high energy rocker with hooks that instantly recognizable and a great slashing guitar riff…
I kiss your lips and gently touch your thighs
we brace ourselves, closing our eyes
But after this we’ll say our goodbyes
You see my girl no-no no-no

cool

I’m you seems like it’s straight outta the Sky Saxon “Pushing Too Hard” songbook, barely decipherable but compelling nonetheless

Prognosis is a break-up song – call the Love Doctor right away… a broken heart ain’t nuthin’ that a little lovin’ won’t cure…teenage angst at its big-beat best with a cool, falsetto vocal at the end that let’s you know it’ll be alright. Oh, I feel so smoochie, baby.
Jesus Saves is punked up rocker with a message about rock ‘n roll salvation - Gospel according to the Lizard King. The vocal is filtered to give it an almost metallic Rick Ocasek feel. It’s a hoot and ends too soon.
Cool it Down is a stompin’ delight that has ya singin’ along. The insistent chorus is all you have to remember. Before you move too fast and hit the ground, you gotta…Cool it Down.
Got What I Need is all about primal urges that lead to pleasure and pain and all kinds of unexpected complications. But in the heat of the moment you can throw good sense out the window. All she needs to do is shake that ass and pucker her lips and you better bet that your little Wendell will be a smilin’. This is good rockin’ tonight, mama that is guaranteed to get it movin’.
Pollute Your Mind starts with a softly thumping bass line and high pitched feedback that crescendos into a heavy metal ambience…reminiscent of Iggy. The protagonist is losing his mind and soul for a thing called rock and roll. Go ahead blow your mind, you just might discover something wild and untamed. But… does it ease all the pain?
Better Treat Me Right is another high energy, pull out all the stops rocker that begs the question what’s a young man to do? It’s thematically consistent and a close cousin to Got What I Need.
The steamy I’ll Be Your Man (You do it to me) has a Nirvana feel, shifting from a soft contemplative vibe to an all out screaming thrash fest. It is a ribald ode to the high art of psychosexual drama.
Media Screen is a funky rockin’ tribute to Mcluhan’s warning - the medium is the message. So turn on, tune in and drop out!
Fuel For Greed has a guitar intro that recalls Wayne Kramer. This number rocks hard and takes a gutsy stance against class inequities and the greed that drives American hegemony. Revolt completes the ending triad of tunes that speaks to social injustice, poverty and racism. It’s a minor chord classic and an anthem for the streets.

The Esperantos have released a disc for the times in which we live. This is rock and roll in its finest hour – fun and sexy but imbued with an awareness of the streets. The Esperantos have succeeded in taking us back to our golden years and giving us hope for the future. Rock ain’t dead…this is the proof.

Peace,
Bo White
9/18/06

Empty Pockets - IDIODICY

I haven’t heard a disc that sounded this good since Moby Grape’s debut in ’67. It’s an 8th wonder, a sonic time capsule that catapults us back to the future and allows us to regain a step we lost a few years back and recover from the dusty torpor of today’s scene with the same 5 bands-in-demand playing original music in rotation, club-to-club, takin’ hard hits from sing-a-long karaoke and the best cover bands in the state. Whew… now everybody’s doin’ it, there’s more and more places to hang yer microphones and belch out yer version of Every Rose Has its Thorn or any other turgid hair-metal nonsense from the eighties, it’s all too much, brother, especially when the street pub cannibals feed on their young and hiss, “you better figure out your priorities.” Everybody gets a serving. And no one can make sense of what is true and right or what’s just the rantings of a musical snob like yours truly. Snob, indeed-gimme a little Louie Louie with a side of the 13 Floor Elevators and I’ll be in rock n’ roll heaven – not the Righteous Brothers’ version.
Gimme the Beatles’ 2nd Album and the gospel of “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.”
Gimme music that matters.
Shake it up with Question Mark & the Mysterians or die you sniveling nincompoops!

The slow dying death of rock n’ roll is upon us like junky blood infecting everyone with HIV...just as Burroughs’ Naked Lunch reveals an anguished cry for truth to anybody who gives a damn. But few ever understood that dilemma between art and commerce and many hated rock & roll without really listening to it just as people today offhandedly dismiss hip hop or rap.

. Rock n’ roll is a stubborn ‘old tomcat that used up eight of its nine lives; it just may be time for its final burial in some doomed post-apocalyptic trash heap in Cleveland. It is gonna happen sooner or later, better not hedge your bets, buy some stuff on credit and pray for a timely death - it’s yer only way out of this cultural purgatory!!

: Except if you’re a true believer like me.
Seems every time I lose hope that I’ll ever hear great new music, someone arrives on the scene to save the day and renew my spirit. It’s happened in the late nineties with the resurgence of Johnny “Boomer” Krogman and the explosive entrance of Sprout & the Orange. Stamp’d rocked my world and more recently Maybe August showed me the path to enlightenment. They gave me hope for the future. Rock hasn’t died yet, there’s nothing quite like it and nothing can replace it.

John Lennon once said, “There’s nothing conceptually better than rock & roll. It was the only thing that could get through to me out of all the things that were happening when I was fifteen. Rock & roll was real.”

And so is the music of Empty Pockets. They’ve been around for several years, releasing a CD every now and again, showing sparks but cooling off…until now. They knocked me out this past summer with a stunning performance at Tittabawassee Park in a benefit organized by the Freeland Athletic Association. It was a lovely summer’s day, fresh and warm and fueled by good wine, cheese and an assortment of sweet culinary delights. A good-feeling communal spirit filled the air. What struck me about Empty Pocket’s performance was not just their glorious rock & roll music but the confident, easy manner in which they involved the audience.
To top it off, lead singer Mike McMath completed a painting of a lavender iris on this huge 4ft by 5ft canvas during the performance, never missin’ a stroke - ooh, baby!

The release of Idiodicy signals the renaissance of Empty Pockets, a commitment to quality and craft yet still making music that is crunchy, melodic and a whole lot of fun.

REM is a minor chord miracle that recalls CSN on Wooden Ships. It’s a powerful ballad that is colored in pain, both in its plain spoken lyrics and its sad musical tapestry. The words convey the absolute sorrow experienced in the loss of someone you once loved:
Now you know my misery
Now you feel my pain
The vocal is emotive and soulful and the extended screaming guitar solo in the coda reveals the misery behind the lyrics. This is a brutally honest and frank portrait of a man with a broken heart.

Desperate Soul is a sweet 12 bar blues with nice economical use of the slide that continues the theme introduced by the previous track. But this time the writer acknowledges this is “living hell” and that acceptance is the only way out. By writing the song, he puts the pain outside of himself and loosens its power over his state of mind. The next step is radically accepting the pain and sorrow. Given the current reality of the loss, how could it be otherwise?

Land Down Under is an elegant cover of a great song by Aussie Colin Hay & Men at Work. The first verse is sung acapella and it segues into a guitar-driven up-tempo rocker. The band’s singers are gifted with some-kinda wonderful pipes. Great singing is their trademark – especially those tight soaring harmonies. The guitarist Rick Manges really lets loose on this sleeper...covers never sounded so good!

15 minutes is a straight ahead blues rocker with some fabulous lead singing that recalls Moby Grape on Miller’s Blues. It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek and decries the discreet charm of the bourgeois dilettante as it pokes fun of the instant gratification of the American Idol, You Tube and Reality TV. Warhol’s 15 minutes of fame has turned into a nightmare…everyone’s got the itch

Breath to Flesh is heavy metal rocker reminiscent of the Troggs’ muscular guitar opus Feels Like a Woman. It’s a delightful ode to love, sex and sex and a touch of intimacy and, of course, more sex. It’s written from the perspective of the reptilian brain… which goes something like this:
Can I eat it?
Can it eat me?
Can I have sex with it?

But I have to admit I may over-stating the sex part - just a bit (for my own needs).

A jagged machine-gun guitar riff, with a little wah-wah for good measure, dominates Shake. This is a great toe-tappin’, booty-shakin’ dance number that drops names and takes numbers. J-lo? Horney bastards. The middle eight contains a good lovin’ bring-sexy-back rap:
Relax
Don’t do it
When you gonna go to it
Relax
Don’t do it
When you gonna come
,/B>

Cruel Lady is a cool jazz ballad with some tasteful guitar. This guy Manges is a real player, workin’ up and down the frets, bending that E-string and pickin’ some of the most full-bodied delightful notes since Junior Watson joined the Mighty Flyers. This song is about a kept man who feels he can’t speak his mind. This woman - in a perfect role reversal - treats him like an object. She pays the bills and lives by the “golden rule” – whoever has the gold makes the rules. The song is a form of alternate rebellion; it’s a chance for him to say screw you without getting into trouble.

Hey Carlos is a tribute to Santana and opens with a bass line straight out of the Mann & Weill catalog and segues into the sweetest Spanish guitar work since Carlos blew us away at Woodstock. The guitar work is phenomenal with Manges taking turns with Michael Robertson (Maybe August) and Dave Kellan. These fine musicians really stretch out and strut their stuff...they flat out play their asses off. This track is a standout – it’s SMOKIN’

Fuse is the final statement of loss and longing, the plaintive sentiment is balanced by the powerful music. A fuse has blown, the wish isn’t granted and sometimes he just functions. The squealing full bodied Hendrix-like guitar at the coda provides the sonic equivalent to the lyrical sentiments of the song – powerful!

This is one of the most open and honest musical statements since Alex Chilton bared his soul on his obscure lo-fidelity masterpiece Flies on Sherbert or when Neil Young blew me away with Prairie Wind.

Kudos to Empty Pockets for creating a disc of “real” songs with great singing and playing and a clean crisp sound compliments of wunderkind producer Rick Armstrong @ Big Bear studios. Buy this disc and stand up for good music.

Peace
Bo White

Doug Deming & the Jewel Tones - Double Down

Doug Deming is one of those rare artists that perform and record for the SAKE of the music. A respect so real, so pure, that it simply cannot be denied. And it's reflected in Doug's style and approach to composition and in the way he lays it down on his debut recording for Mighty Tiger Records.

"Double Down" is a musical treasure - a recording of such rootsy eclecticism that it covers just about every form of American Music - from basic 12-Bar Blues, to Jump Blues and Swing, Jazz, and Rockabilly - twelve Deming originals that resonate with conviction and authenticity.
This is the real deal
And it reminds me what is possible when an artist stays true to his muse without being twisted and pulled by trends or gimmicks.
Deming has the looks and personal charisma of a modern day Elvis but he never trades off form for substance. And he doesn't sell out. He simply plugs in a lets the music take over... in a style that combines (Mose) Allison cool with T-Bone flash.
Deming writes in straight forward style and he's at his best when he writes those wonderfully concise and wicked metaphors or when he's "kidding on the square"

The disc opens with "Goodbye Baby", an uptempo slap-jackin' shuffle that jumps and swings like an ol' southbound rockin' & reeling and just about ready jump the track. Deming's guitar work is rich and sweet with nary a wasted note. Like such great guitarists as Emmanuel X Garza, Howard Glazer, Johnny Bassett, and Junior Watson, Deming plays with a musical economy that assures that less is more. Sound Rules this landscape as Deming tells the story of a failed romance. She is drinkin' and staying out all night despite her lover's plea, "please be good to me".

BlackJack" breaks out with some squealing harp from Brian Miller and a funked-up riff with prominent maracas in the mix. Doug sings,


"They call me blackjack baby 'cos I always make 21"
"When I cash in my chips, gonna have them on the run". In the coda, Deming intones like Alex Chilton circa 1987 (remember the Box Tops?)on Lowell Fulsom's "Make a Little Love". He raps some mighty fine smack, "Gonna have me a whole lot a money"
"We going out on the town"
" a big fine car"
" a big black Cadillac"
"ahhh, we gonna be ridin' in style..."


I don't know what it means but I'm sure it's NAUGHTY. A great soul stirrer.

"Bad For You" is a mid-tempo ode to love's mysterious allure. Gregg "Fingers" Taylor's wonderous harp drives the celebratory vibe - the musical equivalent to the excitement and primal thrill of new love. But the real-life tension of human relationships is revealed when Doug sings,
"You got my heart and soul and all my dough".
This blues rocker - like any great blues love song - contains ample amounts of paradox. She may be divine but she just may be doing him wrong. And he knows it - with a wink and a nudge.

"Make It Last" has a "Stormy Monday" vibe - a slow blues with a menacing organ backdrop (courtesy of the extraordinary Chris Codish). Deming sings about some pretty hard-won wisdom,
"When I was a young boy I ran through every door"
Lived every day like there'd be a million more"
"People told me try not to live to fast"
"You better make it last"

"Now that I'm older, thank the Lord for every day"
"See people abuse time in each and every way"
"Never concerned with the future or the past"
"They better make it last"
"I think I know just how it feels to push and not succeed
"You'll never win when you try to beat the clock"
"So take just what you need".

There is a moral in this story and it has a beginning and an end. But it's the journey that counts. Kudos to Brian Miller's exceptional harp work.

"You Don't Even Care" returns to an uptempo jump blues. Here Deming is positioned outside his pain as he sings about his lover's indifference and betrayal. The music's energy and spirit belie the singer's devastating message. This song R-O-C-K-S
And it contains one of the most exciting recorded instrumental jams in recent memory - as it reaches break-neck speed in a crescendo of sound and fury. A kick-ass blast to the sciatic nerve and a throttle to the limbic system.
Makes me wanna get up and jitterbug

"Let Me Be" sounds like it was recorded on a cheap two-track in 1950...a cool production technique that duplicates the sound of some of our earliest and best bluesmen and rockers. It recalls Dave Edmunds churning out "The Promised Land" on his Rockpile album way back in 1970. It's starkness is it's beauty. And Deming's upfront echoed and scratchy vocal is magnificent. The band stretches out on this one with guitar, harp, and piano all taking turns in the spotlight. Great track.

"HDF" is an instrumental that opens with pulsating bass guitar and drum on a Bo Diddley (cum the Troggs' "Gonna Make You") riff. Drummer Don Gruendler is given a prominent solo that is compared to Gene Krupa. I think it's more like Sandy Nelson's "Let There Be Drums".
But what do I know.
The excitement builds as the tempo accelerates and everyone joins in.

"On The Midnight Shift" has a slow syncopated beat and some deep wailin' organ that drives the sensual images provided by the lyrical metaphor.
"Be silent don't move"
"Pay the devil his due"
"Before we groove"
"Build it up make it strong"
"Just because it's wicked"
"Don't mean it's wrong"
"Turn it over"
"Deep and real"
"We're in hot production"
..."On the midnight shift" .

WHEW...I think it moved

"Mr. Blues" has drummer Gruedner pounding out the intro and Doug & the boys keeping the rhythm with a bomp-bomp beat worthy of Brian Wilson's "Don't Worry Baby" as stolen by the Byrds on "Mr. Tamborine Man". Deming is singing about problems with his lover...and it's his fault. He's singin' the blues but is confident she'll come back and give him another chance.

"It's a Crime" is thematically similar to "Goodbye Baby" but this song finds Doug stretching out with some of the purest tonal perfection this side of Junior Watson. This is a showcase for Deming's considerable skills as a guitarist. Roll over T-Bone give Doug Deming the blues!

"All About Digits" is Deming at his satirical best - doing the Mose Allison all over you when you least expect it
"Now your talkin' to a sweet thing at your favorite night spot"
"You wanna get her number 'cos she's lookin' pretty hot"
"You look down at your watch it's almost closing time"
"She's lookin' at your wallet is it worth a lousy dime"

"All about the digits baby"
"She's got no time to waste"

"You've been together for a year now"
"And it's been a real sweet thing"
"She's lookin' at her finger and she wants to see a ring"
"You go to see the banker to get a loan you can't pay"
"But now you've got that diamond it makes everything OK"

"All about the digits baby"
"She's got to no time to waste"

"Well she's lookin' though her planner"
"And she can hardly wait"
"She's finally got a ring"
"Now she wants to set a date"
"You look into your pockets and you pull out lead and sand"
"The preacher calls and says he needs another grand"

"All about the digits"
"She's got no time to waste"

"And now when the party is over she's quiet as a mouse"
"And then they serve those papers that say she's got half the house"
"Now the moral of the story as anyone can see"
"Be careful with those digits or you'll wind up just like me"...
My favorite track

The disc closes with "Double Down" a rockin' coda that combines all the best elements in Deming's considerable repetoire... he rocks and swings to a raucous conclusion.
And leaves us thirsty for another round.

Doug Deming and the Jewel Tones have crafted a sonic testimony to their willful embrace of authenticity. It's a profound statement for a musician to make by mining a balance between craft and talent and eschewing the more profitable potential of flashier styles.
Doug Deming seems almost unstoppable.... touring with swamp blues legend Lazy Lester and gigging up and down the state - from Detroit to all points North, South, East, and West. Deming's music is irresistable - once you hear him play, you become one of the initiated.
A true believer.
So if you haven't had the chance to experience the vibe and voodoo of Doug Deming and the Jewel Tones, the place to start is right here.

Dave Kellan - Truth of the Matter

Dave Kellan is one of the most talented musicians in the Mid-Michigan scene today. That's right. Forget all the rest. GIMME KELLAN.
For Kellan his talent seems a birth right. Undeniable as a breath of fresh air. He is a guitarist blessed with such precision, such concise phrasing and such an astounding range of expression that he ranks with the area's best guitar slingers. Move over Wagner and McCray and make some room for Kellan...our future depends on it. In a time when new artists are intentionally bland and disposable - a variation of planned obsolescence - Kellan offers something substantial and enduring. By GOD I hope talent will prevail. But I must admit it's much cheaper for the suits to squeeze a coupla hits from a formulaic no-name forgettable and call it good. No back catalog or messy royalty scams.
Perfect.
And the public be damned.
They are too STOOOPID to know any better anyway.
You may remember that Kellan became WIOG's Mid-Michigam Idol last year and rocked everyone to the bone at the WONDERJAM.
Uncle Kracker tried but he couldn't do it....
doesn't have the gris gris
I'm hoping that Kellan transforms this opportunity to pure gold to prove (to me anyway) that talent still has a place on the hit parade. I NEED Kellan to restore my faith in what is good and pure. If Kellan succeeds I might be able to TRUST that the American public has some capacity to embrace more than their own reflection. "truth of the matter" is Dave Kellan's third release.
And it's his BEST
Just as his debut with Gutbucket Blues Band layed the foundation and "Open Up" expanded his vision, Kellan's point of view matured with "A Matter of Trust". It's a new "voice"...of someone who is beginning to learn the game. A man who is on the precipice of KNOWING and on the cusp of "radical acceptance". Things as they appear to be but truth is as relative as looking at purple but seeing fuchsia.

The disc opens with the title track truth of the matter
It has a cool-jazz vibe with a wondrous and melodic saxophone riff (courtesy of Jim Rosborough)that creates has a rich melancholy landscape of ambient tones that underscore Kellan's soulful vocal. Matt Cohn slight-of-hand keyboard notations are some kinda tasty. And Kellan's powerful screaming guitar punctuates the anger and longing in the song. Is he better off alone?

Tranquility is anything but. A straight out funky "protest" rocker with plenty of attitude. It has a great hook - with Kellan singing in unison with the guitar riff. Very NICE. He sings,
"Come and go as you please, don't disrespect me". He asks rhetorically,
"Will there ever be a chance...for tranquility"?
Kellan's ambivalence is convincing

Kellan performs a trinity of solo acoustic songs in this set...
Golden Rule, Them Applesand Talk About the Weather

Thematically similar and metaphorically satisfying, these songs are beautifully crafted and executed with humble aplomb. Simple and unadorned, these tunes reveal Kellan's skill in creating songs of stark majesty. And there's some mighty fine pickin' as Kellan proves to be every bit as fluid on acoustic guitar as when he is electrified. "Talk About the Weather" is just Dave and his acoustic....singin' about a broken heart...suffering
"I'm, beggin' darlin please"
"I'm on my knees"
"So lets talk about the weather"
"nothin' left to say...
But I need you"

Sun Shinin' is a blues/gospel anthem. One of the discs many highlights

"If you ask me to do it all over again"
"I would"
"In the greenfields I'd raise my weary head"
"In the greenness I'd make my eternal bed"
"I'll live my life where the sun is shining"

This is an old fashioned spiritual - a song of triumph and redemption.

Kellan and the band shine on the mid-tempo rocker Rainy Day

It combines a tight & mighty rhythm section with moody organ and Kellan's increasingly gymnastic vocals and a fiery McCray-esque blues/rock guitar solo.

Silky Gravy is cool jazz at it's best.
Move over Stan Getz.
Jim Rosborough's magnificent jumpy saxophone riff fuels the vibe. Kellan's intricate finger perfect notations create an aural landscape that draws the listener "inside" the music. This is a superb and compelling side to the band's arsenal of chops. And Kellan doesn't play it straight...he can barely contain his joy in creation as he segues to an electrical romp that pounds ya right in the chest before he brings it back down to the "silk".

High Tides is a jazz rocker that has the vocals pushed back in the mix, allowing the music to dominate and make the statement. It's about relationships - making choices....tough choices.
Can we ever be sure?

You Are is a mantra of discovery. Kellan's scratchy straining vocal captures the zenist vibe of the song. Kellan is outside his pain and in the awareness of the moment he is observing the feelings and thoughts that flow through him. And he is knowing
"You are....
hardly yourself"
And in that very moment he is talking about the other AND himself at the same time.

I Still Care has a simple piano based melody and a Lennon-esque vocal circa 1970/71 during his Plastic Ono Band/Imagine phase. The mellow vibe and sweet vocal masks the heartache in the lyric...
"I've been waiting"
"no more words to say...anyway"
"Why must I be.."
"in your distant memory?"
"I don't Know"
"I don't know"

"BUT I STILL CARE"

Around You seems to be a written form of parallel process. A dual message to an unenlightened, unknowing public - mass popularity is so elusive - and a "heads up" to a friend in trouble.
"You better stop & look around
check out the sights and sounds around you"
"Look in my eyes I can see your disguise"
"and I wonder why"

The CD ends with an uncredited instrumental... just Dave and his trusty acoustic. It's a joyful syncopated release of frustration. And one helluva workout - a wordless statement made more provocative by it's economy and tension.

Kellan's third album is an inspired effort. Like any great piece of music, "The Truth Of The Matter" possesses the unique vision of the author and is not encumbered by trendiness or an eye on what sells on the "hit parade". This may not translate into massive sales but it does suggest a more enduring legacy. REAL music masterfully conceived and crafted that avoids the musical sophistry that now pollutes the airwaves.
Music-lite masquerading as relevance and appealing to the disposable notions of a youth culture deconstructed to ensure conformity and encourage a mass ADHD-like consciousnes that values the very impulsiveness and distractabilty that creates the "bland inconsequence" of modern music.

But Kellan does not fall for it. And he never co-opts his unique voice and vision for a readily definable bag or label. You can call Kellan's music whatever you like...blues, jazz, rock, folk. But ultimately it is so pure and authentic that it's "just what it is".
Music...vision...breath...life

Dave Kellan - Open Up

ou may remember Dave from the Gutbucket Blues Band, Danny Brown (a great pop harmony band), or the KBK Blues band. All great bands that had one thing in common...they all had SHITTY NAMES!!!
But they were all excellent bands that somehow never found a niche...maybe it WAS those names.
But Dave Kellan always stood out as a tremendous talent. All he needed was that one break...that "one" open door. A lucky break never comes to you, you go to it.
And Dave went out and FOUND it
In November 2002, Dave won WIOG's mid-Michigan Idol contest and the next month he recorded demos in New York for Epic. He's on his way. Dave performed at WIOG's Winter WonderJam in January 2003, rubbing shoulders with Uncle Kracker and Bowling For Soup.This is Dave's "acoustic" album from the fall of 2001. It caught us all off-guard at the time 'cos we knew Dave as a blues rocker that possessed the purest, most powerful, and lightening fast riffs this side of Dave Edmunds on speed (remember Sabre Dance?). Dave calls it, "a fun, beat-centric, commercial interpretation of myself". I call it soul music.
"Kellan Soul"
This may be acoustic but its percussive and funky. Kellan's voice is mic'd back in the mix and it's echoed and double and triple tracked. In some respects "Open Up" is all about VOICE and singing to set a tone or a mood...and I'm not talkin' 'bout the lyrics. Kellan is a vocal gymnast on this record, using his throat, tongue, lips, and lungs to bend, prolong, and twist notes around to serve the song...it's mood and intent.
It's an absolutely compelling and masterful juxtaposition of voice and instrument in service to the song. Dave proves to be a fine acoustic guitarist. He plays rapid-fire leads but doesn't try to overwhelm the integrity of the song. He achieves a tonal purity and beauty that is fully complimented by Matt Cohn's imaginative piano work and Jeff Wareheim's plaintive harmonica. The disc is thematically coherent with a coming of age vision of identity vs confusion and self doubt vs mastery. Issues about intimacy, love and sexuality are interwoven amongst the narrative themes. There appears to be a "parallel process" as the themes neatly tag Dave's ambivalent relationship with the music industry itself. Why does it take soooo long to be recognized? Especially when lesser talents have approached the "ring" first - so come on...OPEN UP!

The disc begins with "Better Think". This is soul music. Pure and simple. A story about a relationship with a touch of social commentary about "the world we live in". Dave pleads with her to remember the times, to cherish them 'cos it gets cold ...so cold. A great opener with Dave's voice double tracked in harmony and as an "alter ego"

"Open Up" is a mid-temp funky-good jazz/soul with Dave in his best Stevie Wonder meets Stevie Winwood voice. Some fancy pickin' and sassy piano. Dave asks, "Do you know right from wrong" and suggests "open up your mind and you might find we are not so different afterall". Ultimately he's hopeful, reminding us to "keep on movin, keep on pushin". "Fool 4 U" is a story told in unison by Dave's voice and guitar. It's an upbeat ode to romance...young lovers in search for a soulmate. It keeps the soulful and jazzy vibe of "Open Up". Dave's vocal is inventive and compelling. "Bittersweet" is a straight folk song - a dialogue with a lover. He wants her to stop playing with his emotions. He loves her but she knocks him off his feet...again. It's just too hard. Too bittersweet.

Track 5, the jangly "Lonely Victory" is pure pop. It's a song about lost love, lost opportunities. Some great guitar work by Kellan.

"Amy Lay Your Had Down" has a Paul Simon "Cloudy" guitar riff, bass weaving in and out, and a fine vocal by Kellan. He possesses a remarkable range. He can sing powerful/gritty or soft and sweet. He sings low and breathless then soars into falsetto. He does it all here. In this song he sings of unrequited love, "I'll wait for an eternity, but that's not enough...'cos I need and want you so". But he's "dying" for her and has "cried out all those tears". "Rainy Day" is the narrative cousin to "Amy" as Dave wonders why "feelings have to end". Dave's guitar complements and punctuates his vocal. Is there anywhere to go, when there is nothing left to run to? Just save your love for a rainy day!!!

On "With the Sun Shinin", Dave harmonizes with his lead, sounding like Richard Manuel singing high harmony over Levon Helm on Up On Cripple Creek(or anything from the Band's first lp "Big Pink"). Dave's guitar, meshes perfectly with Cohn's spare piano and Wareham's mournful harp. A great roots/bluesy track

"Nothing is a mid-temp love song". Dave's electric guitar accentuates the feeling...a feeling so strong, so deep that words can't adequately describe. A paen to true and abiding love. Does it exist?

Track 10, "Love Tolls" is a companion to the previous track. It's a cool funkified rap about love's search. A background harp serves as a counterpoint that reveals the protagonist's loneliness.

"Comin Over Me" is about a troubled relaionship. The singer assures her that he will give all he's got but knows they've both been a bit "crazy" lately. And that something's been comin over him... like the "pouring rain" or a "heavy snow"

"All Along" is a ballad about love turned sour. It is part confessional and part realization. The singer begins to understand that it's time for them to part...that the relationship has come to an end.

"This Picture' is a funky R&B/Rap groove. It conveys the code of the street and the creed of the urban poets. "Everybody's chillin', killin' time". But is there a difference between black & white? Can it be only seen?

"Slipped Away" is an electric rocker with a rich aural landscape that recalls early '70's Steely Dan. Great Kellan vocal.

The disc closes with "Been Thinkin' Of" - a cool latin vibe that describes the vagaries of love. Love is supposed to last forever but...

Whew!!!15 tunes just for you. This is Dave Kellan at his most driven. The narrative is consistent throughout the disc....a questioning, a wondering...from a true seeker. Expect great things from Kellan. It's on the horizon...just "Open Up".

The Charms - Pussycat

I get this package through the mail, very charming...uh…hmm...sorry. So I tear open the package with my eager paws, not a clue about what’s on the inside but just diggin’ the surprise like it’s Christmas morning and I’ve been a good boy, well, almost but Santa felt generous and what I’ve done isn’t all that bad, so he forgives me and I finally get a real present instead of a bowl of cold porridge and a lump of coal - and lo and behold - it’s the Charm’s Pussycat CD and the cover is filled with all these wondrous colors - yellow, blue, red, maroon – and two slender but downright sexy girls are yankin’ on each other’s hair half grimacing but really getting’ a rush over it and now they’re even more sexy, so I wanna know what’s on the inside, what’s the music like. So I listen to the CD and it adds about 15 years to my life, like the fountain of youth. These audacious punk renegades gave me an injection of some good old rock 'n roll, made all my aches and pains go away and now, suddenly, I can put my arm above my head and do the jitterbug. Loved it. I grew up listening to the MC 5 (they played my high school senior party), the Stooges, Bob Seger, and Suzi Quatro (the Pleasure Seekers) and they were great and all but I'm absolutely taken by the Charms. None of them Michigan rockers got a jump on the Charms, no way - and I'm lovin’ the idea that Boston’s favorite band is droppin’ by White's Bar during their nationwide tour.

And the Charm's music, that ever lovin’ irreverent sassy rock ‘n roll music, well - it’ll chew you up and spit you out – and then yer gonna like it, see...so let me tell ya, just take a listen and you’ll know what I’m talking about, ‘cos you’re gonna feel it in your loins like it’s all too wet to woo and then you’ll realize that these chicks are singin' them good ol' Kosmic punk blues like Mark Lindsey when he was a rack jobber in Portland, steppin’ out like a cobbler – just check out Action, or what about Gimme That Shot - sounds alot like Joan Jett meets...hmm...Joan Jett. And they romp and wail “down on me style” on DBID like Janis doin too much Southern Comfort and just a coupla black beauties in order to sing it bluesy and soulful and to stay awake for the next round. PERFECT.

The Charms borrow a “Be My Baby” riff for Dream but revive it with an injection of raw power and dash of Ronnie Spector singin “oh, oh, oh, oh”. The aggressive “come hither but don’t fuck with me or else” tease of Pussycat had my head spinning. I just love the tussle of sexual politics. Losing My Addiction had the power of Eddie Cochran and the angst of the Who mixed with the sheer willfulness of Courtney Love... don’t scoff, Hole in their prime were absolutely real and glorious...just ‘cos I say so!

The Charms’ Pussycat CD is like takin' a hit of pure adrenaline. This is rock 'n roll the way it should be played like if Ronnie Spector and Reg Presley had a love child and the godmother was Kate Pierson. The Charms slug me right in the chest with their energy and balls. MY-MY-MY Generation seems kinda tame by comparison like an oldies show or something equally as creepy. Nope this is the real thing. It's Iggy singin' 1969 at the Delta Pops Festival and me not believing my eyes or ears. Kim Fowley and the Runaways could take a lesson from these upstarts. Who do they think they are, anyway?
Best band in Boston I'd say
We need them here to inject a little life in the party...a little sparkle, rattle and hum, maybe?
This is a neck twistin' instant paralysis of every stodgy impulse to sing karaoke or join a political party. God Bless America and the farfisa and...oh yes, God Bless the Charms.

Peace
Bo White
8/17/05

Cash O’ Riley & the Downright Daddies - Get Lucky, Break Down or Die

Say what you will about the decline and fall of rock n’ roll but within the dying embers is a flicker of hope that smolders in back road honky-tonks, small clubs, and summer festivals. It is an almost cultish phenomenon that flourishes in isolated pockets across the nation. Though largely forgotten by the public, Rockabilly like the Blues seems to never go away. It just hides for awhile until a hot young rooster like Brian Setzer breathes some new life into it - 1981 was a good year indeed. Rockabilly is one of rock n’ roll’s oldest forms and its rhythmic signature is instantly recognizable yet totally obscure. We remember it as much faster than it actually was and we forget that the originators were stone punks – especially if the punk ethos is defined by attitude and a rejection of the dull and ordinary in mainstream culture. Rockabilly is pure Americana created by cultural misfits way before we ever heard of Iggy or the Sex Pistols. The music is honest to the core and absolutely corrupt. It’s anchored in deep-rooted southern spirituality and at the very same moment it is sinister and frightening. It’s real.

This is what I feel whenever I’m lucky enough to catch a show by Cash O’ Riley & the Downright Daddies. They got the spirit like it’s a new religion. They reveal the true country-punk nature of rockabilly and re-interpret the best tendencies of our forefathers while they were on their worst behavior. Cash O’ Riley’s music is transcendent as it illuminates the wisdom of the uneducated – the “damn-right truth that looks pain and sorrow right in the eye, without flinching. Listening to Cash O’ Riley is like scarfin’ down a big stack of pancakes dripping in butter and soaked with a half jar of pure maple syrup…mmm, so good. Only later your stomach is rumbling and all you got to ease the pain is a long neck PBR and a coupla a Jag-bombs. Damn right!

Just take a listen to the new cd by the peripatetic Cash O’ Riley and his righteous hooligans known as the Downright Daddies….

The disc is filled with toe tapping rhythms played at yester-years’ tempo- just right, not too fast, just enough to get you off your seat and shake your moneymaker. Cash sings with an emotional depth that puts you right square in the driver’s seat as he leads his Daddies through 13 classic rockabilly tracks - from the punk soul of the opener, Right Away, to the upbeat Workingman’s Dead harmonies of Ownsome. I’m not a purist but I do understand the enduring beauty of rockabilly and other forms of low brow rock n’ roll music. And I know that I don’t like upper crust pinky-extended pose of opera, overly rehearsed American Idol train rides, lugubrious Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals, or modern country with clichéd riffs, woopsie-do lyrics and synthesizers. I need some Cash O’ Riley so I can feel alive- just dig Cash’s husky curled lip singing, Sammy bassing’-in like A.P. Carter and Andrew Brydon’s rich full-bodied guitar sound. All but two of the songs are Cash O’ Riley originals

The up-tempo Right Away opens the disc in fine order with echoed Elvis-like vocals, an old fashioned walking bass line, and Brydon’s magnificent Telecaster – shades of Bill Kirchen paying tribute to Don Rich.

No Such Luck has a Rock This Town-vibe with beer on ice and a two-step rhythm. Country freaks can line dance to this, get lucky and come back for more. It has a big bluesy Hollywood ending that underscores the need for another ice-cold Colt 45 - ‘cos you don’t ever want it to end.

On Shy Girl, Brydon picks more notes than the ants on a Tennessee ant-hill. This is goin’ real fast, cruisin’ real slow, back seat, make out music. The standup bass solo, echoed sound, and call and response vocals remind me of a long ago time when fun was alot louder and we had a good time.

The minor chord structure along with the haunting accordion backdrop and Cash’s scratchy tortured vocal gives Bad For You a sense of foreboding…something awful is just about to come down the pike, but whatever happens between Cash and his girlfriend Ruby, it ain’t gonna end well – the timing is off and Ruby, well, you know…she takes her love to town.

Love You So is a glorious perfection from the clever lyrics and spot-on vocals to the incredible sound. It’s a celebration of life punctuated by some phenomenal steel guitar pickin ’that adds depth and dimension to the images evoked by the music. The sound landscape resonates in rich deep tones and fuels the good feeling. The lyrics betray a dark side to the celebration but that doesn’t negate the purity of the experience. Cash is able to hold all the joys and sorrows this life throws at him and lives to sing about it. This is another mid-to-up tempo Cash O’ Riley rockabilly classic. Here’s to Mary Jane!

Cash O’ Riley is the purveyor of 2 minute instant classics that I never get tired of dancing to – even if I’m only dancing in my mind. Case in point is the upbeat dialectic shuffle of By the Devil. Cash sings about opposing internal forces. He’s the arrow without a bow. He’s right and he’s wrong but maybe he’s just somewhere in the middle. But what he’s really singing about is sin and redemption. He’s been lost and found by the devil and hell bound. Yet he’s standing outside his pain and singing about it, in pure rapture.

Swore You Were Wrong is a country waltz with a moaning harp trill and righteously polite unison singing, and a brief acappella interlude with the Downright Daddies singing sweetly in parts. Cash is singing serious and sincere, as he always does, doing George Jones like a tongue looking for a cheek

South of Texas is a no-nonsense bluesy Texas shuffle clocking in at less than two minutes with a familiar stop-start riff and some phenomenal pickin’ from the Telecaster as well as the steel guitar. This is a git-er done, workhorse rockabilly at its very finest, designed to cause folks to fall all over themselves while schlepping around the dance floor.

Wrong Turn is thematically dense and layered. It has it all – sin, betrayal, and violence… in other words, it’s pure Americana. Andrew Brydon’s guitar sound is powerful and fluid - each note resonates deeply, complementing the complex emotional tangle of the lyrics. The images are insidiously surreal as the devil creeps up and becomes the perfect metaphor for Cash’s pain and suffering.

The cover of punk anthem Ball and Chain is a truly magnificent choice, it’s a song about heartbreak and the effects of too much alcohol. I’ve been there and I know the mantra, it’s really a prayer for forgiveness and release from someone who is down for the count and broken hearted - take away this ball and chain, the monkey is on my back and there seems to be no other way to get better…just a little nip to bathe my glands, ahh. This is Social Distortion’s near masterpiece about a harrowing experience that is existentially annihilating.>

The Way I Left You feels like a 50’s rocker that Jack Scott coulda sung with the Tennessee Two. It has a cool middle eight with a hand jive beat. Brydon’s guitar work continues to shine throughout the entire disc –with the intuitiveness and empathy necessary for greatness. He just may be the heir apparent to Don Rich. The lyrical themes are quietly stated but are no less devastating…it’s a breakup song and despite his anger and depression, the protagonist understands he may have caused the problem in the first place. The song ends with a slowed down 12 bar blues

Damn Right I Care has a minor key vibe with a dobro sliding up and down the scale sounding like an alter ego telling you to watch your back and get out while you can, sucker – she’s not alone. Brydon’s tuneful riffs hold the other side, the hang-in-there part of the romance. It’s a monumental battle between guitar and dobro – the curmudgeon and the optimist - and everyone wins!

Ownsome ends the disc on a glorious upbeat about the down low. Cash’s husky tear-in your- voice delivery is cradled by gorgeous harmonies supplied by the Daddies and a coupla guests. This is killer country rock ala the 1970 Grateful Dead masterpiece, Workingman’s Dead. The relationship theme is a dirty nasty brokenhearted mess – though Cash is better off now on his own…some.

That’s why I feel so liberated whenever I listen to Cash O’ Riley and the Downright Daddies. They don’t white wash it or try to make it any better, they just tell you the real story. By putting the pain outside themselves they loosen its hold and sing it with the voice of the everymanvoice. As I listened to this disc it allowed me to look at my anger and my frailties without flinching. I know that they know and somehow it’s alright. That’s what Cash is trying to teach us that Rockabilly is music with integrity. Rockabilly is Johnny Cash singin’ Ring of Fire all the while he’s sweating and trembling with dark obsessions. It’s when he finishes his brief set before its time, walks off the stage smiling and shaking hands before he rushes off to the rest room to puke up a fifth of Johnny Walker Black and a fistful of black beauties, washes off his face and grabs another fifth before finishing the show. Man that cat had stamina. Rockabilly is George Jones genuflecting as much as singing with a demonic other-worldly sorrow, joining Hank Williams in a harrowing spiritual union…to you my friend, and you my friend and we shall die together. But then Hank died alone. And George wished many times over he could have followed Hank, curling up in the back seat of his 52 Cadillac for the long sleep.

Above all Rockabilly is like an ancient lost religion with an almost forgotten holy text. Perhaps its real hero is Charlie Feathers, an obscure artist canonized by a few true believers. And though he toiled in relative anonymity, he never gave up, playing for the locals at the Hilltop, singing Tongue Tied Jill like he’s still a grease haired kid. It can all be summed up by this Feathers quote from a Robert Gordon interview in 1991 :

“There must be another world beyond this one. I don’t know why I can’t quit. You don’t think nobody cares- yet you meet people from all over the damn world…They come here and they care and they know. I don’t understand it, man”

Peace,
Bo White